


Day-Z, The Miraculous AU

by Blairdiggory



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Boss Leader is Hawkmoth but I didn't get a chance to mention it, F/F, Identity Reveal, love square, so Hawkmoth uses female pronouns here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 07:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8481424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blairdiggory/pseuds/Blairdiggory
Summary: Agent Day is the superhero Ladybug, who fights crime with her partner Chat Noir. She loves Mina Zarei.Mina Zarei is the superhero Chat Noir, who fights crime with her partner Ladybug. She loves Ladybug.It's too bad they don't know each other's secret identities, right?Ending inspired by this: http://terriblenerd.tumblr.com/post/140325334744/its-rough-when-your-secret-superhero-alter-egos





	1. The Project

Day is usually cheerful, but today is an exception.  
Today, she is ecstatic.  
Imagine being assigned to work on a project with your secret crush! Ok, so it isn’t exactly a secret that Day likes Mina Zarei (most of the people in their class at least suspect it), but Mina, as intelligent as she is, has no clue about said crush. Therefore, it is a secret. Mostly.  
“Day, you’ll be working with Zarei,” Mr. Walker says. Day tunes out after that. Her! And Mina! Together!  
They’re only putting together a science experiment for their high school’s science fair, but still. After their teacher Mr. Walker reads off their names on his note sheet, Day glances back in Mina’s direction and gives her an oh-so-casual bright smile.  
After class ends, Day shuffles upstream the crowd of people leaving the class to where she knows Mina sits. Mina is gathering her things.  
“So, what kind of project are you thinking of for the fair? You always have something going on in your head,” says Day.  
“I’m thinking we could do invisible ink,” says Mina, neatly stacking her textbooks and sliding them into her messenger bag. “It’s fairly basic, if you’ll pardon the chemistry pun, but effective.”  
“That sounds perfect! Could I get your number?” Day says smoothly.  
“Of course,” Mina says. “I can put my contact information in your phone.”  
Success! Mina holds out her hand as Day feels hurriedly around her purse for her phone. Day hands it over and listens to Mina’s fingers as they tap away at the phone screen.  
“I’m free on Friday after school. Hopefully that works with you?” Mina asks, handing the phone back to Day.  
“I’ll check and call you! Thanks, Mina!”  
“My pleasure, Day.”  
Day leaves the class with a bigger grin on her face than usual.  
“Thou hatht to keep thy head when interacting with thine love!” says a small voice by her side.  
“I kept my head perfectly, Venus. What are you talking about?” Day says. Thank goodness the school is deserted at the end of the day. Even though she knows the school well by now, it always takes Day a little longer to get home. Such are the perks of being blind. At least it gives her time to talk to her kwami, Venus Guytrap.  
“I am thimply looking out for my beholder!” says the kwami. “Love ith a flighty temptreth. Thou thalt receive a failing grade if thy attention ith drawn!”  
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Day says simply. “We should get home soon. I have to finish my homework before Chat and I do guard duty tonight.”  
“I thall be thine eyes, Day,” says Venus, and Day starts the trek home.


	2. LadyNoir

“I’m glad you’re opening up more, Mina,” says her kwami, Patchworm.   
“Stay down!” Mina hisses, looking around warily. She has just gotten off the bus and stepped into her house. Luckily, her parents aren’t home, and as Mina closes the door, Patchworm shimmies out of her messenger bag.   
The kwami, who looks like a black cat with large, vividly-colored eyes, smiles softly at his owner.   
“You heart is warming to Day,” Patchworm says.   
“I consider us friends. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
Patchworm chuckles.  
“Your heart will always belong to Ladybug, won’t it, Mina?” he says.  
Mina blushes. A queasy grin gets stuck to her face, and she tries to ignore Patchworm’s knowing look at she slips off her shoes and walks into her room.  
She tiptoes over the various papers and long-forgotten experiments that litter the floor to her computer. The desktop background is a picture taken by some reporter of her (or, more correctly, of Chat Noir) and Ladybug. Mina finds herself staring too long at her partner in the photo and jolts herself out of her reverie. She has work to do. She can’t daydream all day about Ladybug. She has work to do, especially if she’s going out on guard patrol with Ladybug tonight.  
However, she can’t stop herself from reminiscing about the first time they met and how she fell in love.

Someone had slipped the ring to Mina during the day, but try as she might to recall who it may have been, she just couldn’t (though she did suspect the elderly man whom she had given alms to that day). It looked like a simple silver ring, and she had put it on to see if the mysterious object would fit. To say it freaked her out when Patchworm manifested from it was an understatement.   
At first, she’d tried to kill him (it was an honest mistake to think he was a huge bug!), and then she’d managed to trap him in a jar before he simply phased out of it.   
“Calm down, Mina!” Patchworm said.   
“It can talk!” she squeaked. “And it knows my name!”   
“My name is Patchworm,” the kwami said calmly. “And I know this is a little frightening, but I assure you I am here to help you.”  
“What?!”  
“You see, that ring on your fingers gives you superpowers!”   
“WHAT?!”  
“I suppose I should start from the beginning,” Patchworm had said. “I am a kwami. I am one of seven magical creatures that inhabit pieces of jewelry, called Miraculous, that have the ability to grant people special powers. You have been chosen to wield the power of the black cat Miraculous.”  
Mina had tried to trap Patchworm again at this point. Patchworm again had just phased out of the jar.   
“Mina, please listen to me. A woman who calls herself Hawkmoth has gained control of one of the Miraculous. She can use it for great evil, and you have been called to stop her!” said Patchworm.  
“And why should I believe you?” Mina said.   
A large crash exploded somewhere outside her house.   
“That’s why,” the kwami said.  
Mina had run to the door and looked outside, only to find a monster rampaging down the street.   
At least, that’s what she thought it was. A great humanoid beast wearing hordes of armor was stomping away, breathing fire, and destroying the complex she lived in. Mina had immediately slammed the door.   
“You’re saying you want me to stop that thing?” she hissed.  
“Hawkmoth is able to grant others superpowers through magic spells called akumas. If you destroy the object the akuma inhabits, the holder of the ladybug Miraculous will be able to capture it and undo its affects,” said Patchworm.  
“Ok, so, let’s say that for one moment, I believe you. What is the akuma inhabiting and who has the ladybug Miraculous?” Mina asked. She couldn’t believe she was going along with this for now, but it wasn’t not like she had a choice. At least if she was hallucinating, she could make the hallucination a little less terrifying.   
“My partner Venus has been given to another, though I am unsure of whom. As for the akuma, you will have to figure that out for yourself.”  
“That is literally the least useful thing you could have said.”  
“My apologies,” said the kwami. “When you transform, you will not only have superhuman abilities, you have one called a Cataclysm-“  
“When I transform?”  
“You will see,” said Patchworm. “When you say ‘Cataclysm!” it will give you a one-time ability to destroy any object. Once you do this, you will have only five minutes before you transform back. If Hawkmoth finds out who you are, you may be in danger, so you must not be seen when this happens.”  
“And why was I chosen to do this?” Mina said hysterically.  
“You were chosen because you are strong and stubborn with unshakeable values. You can do this, Mina. I believe in you.”  
“I don’t even believe this is happening!”  
Another roar shook the ground as the creature began burning down the forest in the park nearby.   
“You don’t need to believe it. You must simply do it,” said Patchworm. “Say “Claws out!” and you will transform into a hero.”  
Mina rested her head on the door. It was beginning to warm from the heat of the fires being created by the creature outside. She supposed someone had to do something.  
“Ok, Patchworm. Claws out!” she said, shutting her eyes tight.  
In a flash of bright green, Mina transformed. Her clothes were replaced by a loose-fitting black shirt and pants and matching combat boots. Her hijab had become plain black, with cat ears pinned to the top, and when she moved her head to finally take a look at her reflection in the window, a golden bell jingled from her neck. She touched her long fingers, now covered by black gloves with claws, to her face to find a black mask covering the top half of it.   
“I look ridiculous,” she muttered. No one responded. Mina looked around for Patchworm, who had disappeared. She felt for the belt around her waist to find a small rod attached. There was a green button shaped like a pawprint on it, and when she pushed it, the rod extended into a staff.   
I guess I fight with this, she thought. She heard screaming outside and decided to get to work.  
A hot breeze trickled through her clothes as Mina had raced into action. She ran inhumanly fast toward the creature, whose fiery breath was setting a nearby building aflame. Before it could register the blur of black leaping towards it, Mina jumped and swung her staff at the creature.  
The blow caught it off guard, and it staggered back. However, the armor it had on was well-crafted enough to withstand the hit, and the creature quickly set its sights on her. It seemed to ready whatever flame thrower it had in the back of its throat at her, but she flipped out of the way, dove between its legs, and whacked it with her staff from behind.   
The creature was thrown off balance, but in its attempt to right itself, it swung its arms backwards, striking Mina in the face. She fell to the ground in pain.   
Thankfully, before the creature could get back on its feet and find her, another blur came flying out of the air and crashed into it, successfully knocking it to the ground again. Mina got up, shook her head to make sure she was still in the game (the bell around her neck jingled), and held her staff in front of her, prepared to face her new opponent.   
The challenger was small and pudgy. She wore a skintight red jumpsuit with black polka dots and was carrying, of all things, a matching yo-yo. She looked very confused, but very excited.   
“You must be my partner!” she said, looking in Mina’s direction. “I’m… Ladybug?”  
“You don’t seem very sure,” Mina noted. As the fire-breathing creature began to get to its feet again, Mina whacked it across the back, keeping it down.  
“Who are you?” Ladybug asked.  
“Can’t you tell? I’m a…” Mina was going to say she was a black cat, but if the Ladybug girl could make up a name, so could she. And it had to be something more sophisticated than “Ladybug”.   
“I’m Chat Noir,” she said. It was the suavest name she could come up with under pressure.   
“Black Cat... Ok, Chat Noir, let’s find the akumatized object!” said Ladybug.   
“Ok, what does it look like?” said Mina.  
“What does what look like?”  
“The akumatized object!”  
“I don’t know. Venus Guytrap said we’d have to find it ourselves.”  
“So it’s your first day on the job, too?” Mina asked Ladybug.  
“I guess so. I think you should look, given that I’m, well, you know, blind…” Ladybug said cautiously.  
“What do you mean you’re blind? I have a mask too, but I can see just fine out of it-“ Mina insisted.  
“No, I mean, I’m literally blind, as in I have a condition.”  
“What?!” yelled Mina. She hit the creature again to keep it down. “But you landed perfectly on that thing to knock it out!”  
“I mean, I can sort of sense… It’s complicated. I think we should just find the item and ask questions later.”  
“Ok, fine,” said Mina. “There’s so much armor on this thing… Maybe I can just… Cataclysm!”   
She felt stupid for yelling it out loud, but suddenly her right hand began to pulse with a green light. She gently reached over and touched the creature’s back, where the heaviest of the armor was.  
The next thing she knew, she still standing beside the creature, but it had on nothing but its helmet and its boxer shorts.  
“Oh my god,” Mina said, looking away mortified.  
“Do you see it?” asked Ladybug.   
“You don’t want to see what I see,” Mina said.   
“I would literally love to see anything, but ok. I guess it’s my turn,” Ladybug said. She reached for her yo-yo and threw it into the air.   
“Lucky Charm!” she yelled. The light spun around her, forming little hearts that danced around her body. It was sort of cute. Now that Mina was paying attention to her, Ladybug was also sort of cute. Sort of.   
A fire extinguisher appeared in Ladybug’s hands. She felt around it.   
“Ok, so, I have a fire extinguisher. I guess we have to put out the fires first before finding the object?” she said hesitantly.   
Mina whacked the monster again, which now realized what Mina was doing, and instead of trying to get up, it flailed out its feet and tripped Mina, who faceplanted into the ground. Ladybug seemed to be searching for something, despite being blind.   
The creature jumped up before Mina had a chance to do so. It readied its fiery breath before Mina could even realize what was going on. She barely had time to yell for help, when it blasted its flames at her.   
Just in time, Ladybug jumped in front of her, fire extinguisher poised, and blasted a mass of foam back at the monster. The two blasts collided with deadly force, spraying everyone with hot liquid, but Ladybug’s fire extinguisher proved to be stronger than the creature’s fire power. The foam blasted its way into the creature’s mouth and eyes, and the creature roared in disapproval. It tried to wipe the foamy mess off its body, and in the process, it dropped something it was holding. A locket with a keyhole in it fell to the ground as the creature’s grip loosened, and Ladybug must have heard it clink on the road because she yelled, “Chat! That must be the akumatized object! Hurry, break it!”   
Mina, who was still in shock about what had just happened, naturally obeyed the order. She dove to the ground, swept away the foam, picked up the locket, and slammed it into the road. A small, black butterfly escaped from the broken locket.  
“Is there a butterfly?” asked Ladybug.  
“Yeah,” Mina said, panting, face flushed. “To your left-“  
“Time to de-evilize!”  
Ladybug took her yo-yo, twirled it around, and hurled it at the butterfly. The yo-yo scooped up the akuma and returned to Ladybug.   
“Gotcha!” she said. When she opened her yo-yo again, the butterfly sprang out, white as snow.   
“Bye-bye, little butterfly!” Ladybug smiled as she felt the butterfly leap off her palm and into the sky.  
“Miraculous Ladybug!” she cried, throwing her yo-yo into the air. Mina watched it as a cascade of pink and red hearts swirled through the sky, putting out fires, restoring burned buildings, and changing the creature back into a very-confused human.   
“Where am I?” muttered the man. He squinted at Ladybug and Mina. “Who are you guys?”   
Mina gazed in amazement at what had just happened. She felt herself smiling as she looked at Ladybug again.  
“We did it!” Ladybug said, grinning. “Pound it?”   
Ladybug held out her fist for Mina to bump. Mina genuinely laughed for the first time in a long time and fist bumped Ladybug.  
“Pound it,” she agreed.   
Mina heard something beep. She looked down at her ring, which had transformed with her back at her house. It was now black with a green cat pawprint design. As it beeped, one of the paws on the pawprint disappeared.   
Mina heard another beep, and she saw Ladybug draw her hand to her ear, where a spot on her earrings was disappearing.  
“We should go,” Ladybug said. “We don’t want to be caught transforming into our usual selves.”  
“We can tell each other who we are, right?” Mina asked hopefully. “I mean we’re working together.”  
“Yeah, but if Hawkmoth finds either of us, we shouldn’t be able to give both of us up. I really think we should keep our identities a secret.”  
“I mean… yeah, sure, whatever you want!” Mina squeaked. Ladybug smiled, took out her yo-yo, and used it to shuttle herself into the sky. She swung from lamppost to lamppost until she was out of sight. Mina watched her go the entire way. When she heard her ring beep again and realized she was about to transform, she left quickly, and even though she knew she really shouldn’t, she hoped another akuma would come soon. She couldn’t wait to see her savior Ladybug again.


	3. Zarday

Day finishes her homework before Mina, who does far too much extra work to solve the simplest of problems. Day makes sure her parents are too engrossed in their own activities to notice her leaving, and says, “Venus, spots on!”  
Immediately, she is surrounded by glowing red light. Her everyday clothes turn into a jumpsuit and matching mask, and she strikes a pose in her bedroom mirror before opening the door to her balcony and zooming off into the night sky via her yo-yo.   
Day loves being Ladybug. She gets the chance to be someone different for a change. She knows others pity her for being blind, but as Ladybug, she doesn’t need anyone’s help. She is her own person, and she is strong.   
By now, she knows the city well enough that she doesn’t need to stop on the ground every few leaps to check where she’s going. When she’s in superhero mode, she can’t exactly see, but she can sort of… feel where she’s going. Her heightened abilities allow her to feel every tremor in the ground, every hitch of vibration. It’s like she’s echolocating. The first time she transformed, it was an exhilarating new experience, like tasting chocolate for the first time. Now, it feels like a part of her, like a second skin.  
She flies onto the roof of the town hall building. It’s one of the tallest buildings in the city, and it gives her and Chat Noir one of the best views for their late night patrols.  
Chat Noir hasn’t arrived yet, so Day sits down on the edge of the roof. She’s not afraid of falling. She keeps her palms to stone on the roof, waiting for the minute thump of Chat’s feet when she arrives.   
Now that she can afford to think about something other than school work, Day begins to dream of her project with Mina, remembering how she first fell in love with her.

The first day of high school had been rough for Day. She hadn’t gotten her bearings yet, not to mention it was raining. Rain always seemed to make things worse.  
Day was standing at one of the stations around the room with her partner, helping her partner with the calculations on their lab report.   
“So, you have to round the volume to three significant figures…” she said, when she felt something splash onto her hand.   
The floor, which was slick with water that had snuck in on wet rainboots, had caused the boy in the lab group next to hers to slip. He was able to catch himself on the desk they were at, but he had been holding a beaker of solution, which sloshed over the mouth of the beaker and onto Day.   
“Rick, you idiot,” hissed his lab partner.   
“It’s not my fault the floor is wet!” he said, then turned to Day. “Oh man, I am so sorry. What should we do-“  
“You are so incompetent. Come on,” said the girl. She had a nice voice, Day noticed, as her hand began to tingle.   
“Hold your hand out in front of you so it doesn’t get on your clothes,” the girl said with calm authority. She took Day by the shoulders and gently turned her towards the sink. She guided Day’s hand under the faucet and turned on the water.   
Immediately, a cooling sensation hit Day’s hand. She hadn’t realized how warm it had gotten. The girl poured soap onto Day’s hand and began scrubbing it with a sponge.   
“I apologize for Rick,” she said.   
“What did he spill on my hand?”  
“10 Molar hydrochloric acid.”  
“Oh my god-“  
“Don’t worry,” said Mina quickly. “We got your hand into water pretty fast. It shouldn’t leave any lasting damage. It didn’t get on your clothes either.” She was still scrubbing Day’s hand. It felt nice.   
“I’m glad you know what you’re doing because I sure don’t,” Day joked.   
“I just have common sense. Not that you don’t,” she added hurriedly. “I just knew Rick in middle school. I wasn’t prepared to take any chances with him.”  
Day giggled, and the girl chuckled in return.  
“I’m Mina, by the way,” said the girl.  
“I’m Day.”  
“Nice to meet you.”  
“You too.”  
Mina stopped washing Day’s hand, which made her feel a little empty. Mina was incredibly sweet, not to mention she was Day’s first semblance of a friend in high school.   
“If you ever need any chemistry help, I’m available to tutor you,” Mina said. “Though you seem to know what you’re doing. I heard you working out the problem.”  
“Yeah, totally,” said Day. “I mean, I know what’s going on. I just mean… I’ll get your help if I need it. Thank you.”  
“It’s no trouble.”  
Mina handed Day the roll of paper towels to dry her hand and then led her back to her seat with a hand on her shoulder.   
“You ok, Day?” asked their teacher, Mr. Walker, who had heard the commotion.   
“I’m fine,” said Day, not strictly speaking about her hand.   
Mina was something different than what she’d seen in the others at school. She didn’t pity Day. She didn’t go out of her way to help Day or treat her like a child. She found Day capable of doing her own thing. She had called Day intelligent. Mina made Day feel better about herself.   
And from that point forward, Day dreamed of Mina Zarei.

Chat Noir’s boots pitter onto the city hall roof. Though she’s nearly silent, Ladybug knows Chat too well to be snuck up on.   
Chat sits down and snakes an arm around Ladybug’s shoulder.   
“What a beautiful night, my lady,” Chat says, smiling softly. “Though not as beautiful as you.”  
She squeezes Ladybug in a quick hug, then withdraws her arm as Ladybug swats her away. Chat knows her limits, and though she may teasingly toe the line, she always respects Ladybug’s boundaries.  
“I’m still in love with someone else, Chat,” Ladybug says.  
“It’s possible to fall out of love,” Chat Noir says simply.  
“So it’s possible for you to fall out of love with me?”  
“Purr-haps.”  
“Chaaaat,” Ladybug sighs. Chat loves her cat puns almost as much as she loves her. “Did you see anything on the way here?”  
“No, I didn’t,” her partner says. “Hawkmoth hasn’t shown her face, though we still don’t know what she looks like. There were no akumas. Everything appears to be fine.”  
“Good. Let’s check my half of the city, then we can head home.”  
“Of course, my lady.”  
The two spend the next hour searching for akumas and for the elusive Hawkmoth. When nothing turns up, Ladybug and Chat Noir bump fists as is their tradition and disappear into the night.


	4. Shadowbinder

Rick Spender is frustrated. He sees Day and Mina talking in the hallway the next day and can’t help but feel jealous.  
“So, what acids and bases are you thinking of using?” Day asks Mina.  
Day gets along with everyone. She’s great. She’s perfect.   
She doesn’t need to be with Mina like he does.   
He was friends with Mina first! Or, he had been. They haven’t really spoken to each other since they were twelve years old. And now, he needs to be back in her good graces. He’s lonely, though he won’t admit it. He wants it to be like the good old days again.  
But it’s not like she’d talk to him willingly anymore. If he had gotten her as a project partner, they would’ve at least been forced to speak again. But she was partnered with Day instead.   
It's irrational to hate Day, but he does. He hates how smoothly she charms everyone, especially Mina. Day already has friends. She doesn’t need Mina like he does.   
Rick swallows his feelings, but his gut burns from the concealment. He puts on sunglasses to ward of the sun’s glare as he tries to leave school for the day.   
But he feels his hands balling into fists and his teeth clenching, and before he knows it, something knocks into his sunglasses. The shadows around his eyes darken. He hears a voice in his ear.   
“Shadowbinder, I am Hawkmoth. Are you tired of being in others’ shadows? Of being left in the dark? I will allow you to create your own shadows if you bring me the two objects that I’m looking for…”  
“Yes, Hawkmoth…” he responds.  
And suddenly, Rick is no more. 

Mina leaves Day to begin walking home. She passes the bus stop when she hears screaming. The sunlight beaming through the trees dims, then is shut out altogether. Through the pitch black, she can see a figure leaping on top of the school. It has a long, flowing cape, darker than the night that has suddenly fallen, and in its hands is a wicked scythe.   
“I think it’s time for Chat Noir to come out,” she says urgently, opening her bag to check on Patchworm. The kwami nods. Mina runs behind the school and disappears. 

Day visits her locker after Mina leaves her. She begins putting back some textbooks and binders, when she hears a clunk, and then yelling.   
“What happened, Venus?” she asks softly to her kwami, who pops out of her purse.   
“The lighth have gone out, my beholder. I thuppose there may be an outage of power, though I heard no thtorm.”  
Oh no. Something bad is happening.   
“I think it’s time to transf-“  
Two people run into the hall, one on either entrance. Day hears a whirring noise, then something ricochets against the lockers near her.   
“What’s going on?” she yells.  
“Nothing to worry about!” someone yells back. It sounds like Mina, but the sound of heavy footsteps tells her its Chat Noir. It’s funny how similar their voices sound. In fact, when she heard Chat Noir’s voice the very first time they met, she thought it might have been Mina, but Chat Noir’s voice is stronger and louder than Mina’s. Not to mention Chat is more chatty.   
“Who is that?” Day asks, pretending she has no idea what Chat Noir sounds like.  
“I’m Chat Noir!” says Chat. “As soon as Ladybug shows up, we’ll vanquish this foe! Head in my direction and look for a bathroom to hide in until then.”   
“Ok!” Day heads in Chat’s direction and slides into the second-floor bathroom. She locks herself in a stall, and cries, “Venus, spots on!”

Thank goodness for her night vision, Chat Noir thinks, as she fights claw to scythe against this person, who calls himself Shadowbinder. He’s sucked out all of the light in the vicinity, leaving them in a nightmare scene. She parries every attack he throws at her, but he pulls new weapons from the darkness all around him and can teleport around the room via the shadows. The fight is slowly going downhill.   
Feet patter down the other end of the hallway as Ladybug arrives. Her yo-yo lights up the path in front of her, shielding her in case Shadowbinder does anything aerial. Since she senses things through the ground, any attack from the sky will catch her off guard. She throws her yo-yo at Shadowbinder’s head, but he teleports and it hits Chat Noir instead.  
“I’m glad you came, purr-incess,” Chat growls, rubbing her head. She’s at least grateful Ladybug doesn’t need the light to ‘see’ things, so this fight just got a whole lot easier.   
Shadowbinder comes up behind Chat Noir, scythe poised, but this time Ladybug hits her mark, and her yo-yo wraps around the scythe’s handle. She yanks it away, but as he switches weapons, it dissolves into shadows. Chat turns around to see him pull throwing stars out of the darkness. She grabs her staff and twirls it around her, hitting the stars before they reach Ladybug.   
Shadowbinder steps back into the shadows as Chat Noir hurls her staff at him. He jumps up from underneath Ladybug, knocking her to the ground. He grabs a length of chain from the darkness, and the metallic glint from the weapon flashes off something on his face.   
“His sunglasses!” yells Chat. It’s the only piece of clothing on him that seems out of place. And she knows one idiot who wears a pair just like those…  
“It’s Rick Spender!” she hollers at Ladybug, who seems to understand who that is. She launches herself headfirst at the boy, but he steps to her side and wraps the chain around her yo-yo. Ladybug is able to catch her weapon in time, but Shadowbinder hold onto it tightly. The string on her yo-yo is unbreakable, but if their enemy gets ahold of it, they won’t be able to capture the akuma.   
The life-and-game of tug of war begins. Chat doesn’t dare use a Cataclysm on the chain, lest she break the yo-yo on accident.   
“Do something, Chat!” Ladybug grunts, trying to wrestle her yo-yo away from her opponent. Chat jumps forward, but with a final tug, Shadowbinder secures his grip on the yo-yo and yanks it away triumphantly.   
In response, Chat simply runs up behind Shadowbinder, grabs his cape, and flips it over his head. While they can all fight in the dark, she correctly guesses that Shadowbinder can’t see through solid cloth. When he reaches up to remove the cape from around his face, Chat plucks the yo-yo out of his hand and runs it over to Ladybug.   
Shadowbinder bunches up his cape angrily and cuts it off with a shadow sword to prevent the situation from happening again. He drops the sword and instead summons a missile launcher from the darkness. He takes aim.  
“Are you kidding me?” Chat says. She is disgusted at how overpowered this guy is. She shoves herself in front of Ladybug.   
“No!” Ladybug says thinking Chat Noir means to sacrifice herself.   
“Cataclysm!” Chat yells as Shadowbinder fires.   
Her clawed glove collides with the shadow missile, destroying it instantly, but the blast is enough to send her and Ladybug sprawling into the lockers. Chat lands on top of Ladybug and blushes. Ladybug can’t see her blush, but shoves her partner off just the same.   
Luckily, the recoil of the launcher sends Shadowbinder back several feet, and he needs to shake off the shock of it before he shoots again. Ladybug refuses to take any more chances with that thing.  
“Lucky Charm!” she says, and her yo-yo is thrown into the air, sending sparkles in all direction with momentarily blinds Chat Noir and Shadowbinder. It leaves Ladybug with a bar of soap.   
“What on earth-?”  
Chat pushes the two of them out of the way again as Shadowbiner fires into the lockers. Ladybug pauses on the ground, getting an idea from what she feels.   
“Chat,” she says. “This will probably sound like the worst idea you’ve ever heard, but I need you to stand on the other end of the hallway and get Shadowbinder to fire at you.”  
Chat freezes, but slumps in mock defeat.  
“I trust you, my lady,” she says simply. Ladybug hides behind a row of lockers while Shadowbinder is distracted by Chat, who runs off toward the villain. She catapults over his head, and Shadowbinder takes aim at her.   
Just before he pulls the trigger, Ladybug slides the bar of soap down the hallway at Shadowbinder’s feet. He takes a step back to lock himself into place for the recoil and steps on the bar of soap, just as he pulls the trigger.   
All of Shadowbinder’s weight falls on the soap bar, and when he shoots, the recoil pushes him back on it, sending him flying in Ladybug’s direction like a skater on ice. The missile misses due to his lack of balance, and it crashes into the ceiling. Chat jumps out of the way just in time as parts of the ceiling crash down. Shadowbinder slams into the wall behind him, and he slumps to the ground, his sunglasses now hanging off his face.   
Ladybug runs over to him, snatches up the sunglasses, and snaps them in half. A jet black butterfly flies out of it.   
“No more evil-doing for you, little bug,” she says, smiling. “Time to de-evilize!”  
She pulls out her yo-yo, twirls it, and flicks it towards the akuma. It’s caught by the yo-yo, and when Ladybug releases it, it is pure white.   
“Bye-bye, little butterfly!” she sighs. “Miraculous Ladybug!”  
She throws her yo-yo into the air, and light flies from it, illuminating the sky again. The lights in the hallway flicker on, and the ceiling fixes itself. Rick Spender’s black grab is replaced by his normal school clothes. He wakes up from his trance and rubs where his head hit the wall.  
“What the heck? Why am I still in school?” he asks no one in particular.  
Chat Noir walks up to Ladybug, and they fist bump.   
“Pound it!” they laugh. Chat Noir’s ring beeps.   
“I have to go,” she says as she starts running off. “I’ll see you later!”  
“See you later!” Ladybug grins.  
Ladybug goes back to the bathroom where her school things are and detransforms into Day. Chat Noir hides behind the school, detransforms into Mina, and walks off nonchalantly with her messenger bag. All is well.


	5. Identity Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That concludes day's 1-5 of my first NaNoWriMo project! Thanks for reading! <3

It's Friday. Day puts on her cutest outfit (a pink skirt, light green top, matching sandals, and a shawl), and she twists her hair into a heart design. She even spruces up her cane to match her outfit.   
“How do I look, Venus?” she asks excitedly.   
“As beautiful ath a midthummer’th Day,” says Venus, chuckling at his own pun.   
“I swear, you’re as bad as Chat,” says Day. She smooths her skirt and waits for Mina to arrive at her house. 

“You look nice, Mina,” says Patchworm.   
“These are normal clothes, Patchworm. Please don’t make this into something it’s not.”  
It's true. She wears a long, brown skirt with a casual, khaki shirt. The only change in her usual apparel is the ladybug-spotted hijab she dons. It’s her favorite. She likes to wear it for special occasions, but nothing too special since it’s still a fairly casual piece of clothing.   
“I did not mean to imply anything. I just meant that you look very pretty today,” the kwami says, smiling.  
Mina isn’t too sure that the kwami doesn’t have ulterior motives, but she needs to get a move on or she’ll be late to Day’s.

Day and Mina sit in Day’s room. It’s very organized, unlike Mina’s room, probably so Day can find everything. The two sit awkwardly at her desk.   
“So, the project…” Day starts.  
“Yes! The project!” Mina stutters. She attempts to gather her thoughts. She doesn’t know Day as well as she could, but she hopes she doesn’t sound like an idiot. “I was thinking we could create invisible ink. We’ll need a clear base to write things in and a colored acid to react it with. I brought baking soda, soap, and milk of magnesia to test against lemon juice, coffee, and grape concentrate. That gives us nine different acid-base combinations, but if you believe we should try more-“  
“No! No, that sounds perfect,” Day says, grinning. Mina can’t help but notice how cute she is. Maybe it’s because she looks like Ladybug in the right light. “We could also try lemon juice and a hot lamp. The acid in the lemon reacts with the heat and makes it visible, or so I’ve heard…”  
“Yes! Yes, we should definitely have other options. Great idea,” Day says. “And it may seem silly, but you know we get extra credit if we have a theme for our project-“  
“That’s easy!” says Day. “We could do secret agents. I could be James Bond or something. I think I have a suitsie somewhere…”  
“A... suitsie?”  
“It’s a onesie that looks like a tuxedo!”  
“Oh, of course.”  
Day laughs, and Mina laughs too. Day loves her laugh. She swears she’s heard it somewhere else before.   
“Then what should I be?” Mina asks.   
“You want to be a doctor, right? Just wear a lab coat. You can be the mad scientist that creates all the crazy, high-tech gadgets.”  
Mina smiles. If Day doesn’t think this is dumb, then it can’t be dumb, right?  
“I can get a lab coat somewhere, I’m sure,” Mina says.   
“Alright! Then let’s get started on testing the acids and bases!”  
“Will do.”  
Mina and Day bump fists.   
“Pound it!” they say together.   
They both freeze.  
Mina’s eyes dart to Day’s earrings, which are the same silver color as her rings. There’s no way…  
Day remembers the feel of Mina’s hand on hers during the fist bump. She wears a ring. It couldn’t be…  
“Did we just find each other, purr-incess?” Mina asks, holding her breath. Day’s ears are ringing. She doesn’t know how to react. She picks up the chemistry textbook on her desk.   
“Miraculous Ladybug!” she screams as she throws the book at Mina’s face.   
Mina falls off her chair, clutching her face.   
“Well, I’d know that throw anywhere…” she says.   
“I’m sorry! I panicked! I just can’t believe- I mean, it was you the whole time?” Day asks, shocked.   
“You don’t have to sound so disappointed,” Mina says. Her heart is breaking. Day doesn’t think of her like that at all. “I mean, it’s fine. At least we finally get to know who we’re working with-“  
Day feels out to Mina, then kneels down and puts her hand on Mina’s cheek.   
“I’ve had a crush on you for ages,” she says excitedly.   
“Wait? On Chat?” Mina says, dumbstruck.   
“No, on Mina Zarei!”  
“And I’ve had a crush on Ladybug- on you- for ages-“  
Mina pushes herself off the ground and towards Day, and Day brings their faces together for their first kiss.   
They soon pull apart, blushing, their hearts and faces warm. Then, their lips meet again, and again, and today, all is well.


End file.
